The Nature of Worship – by D B Knox
Church Society has made available on its website a classic 1957 article by Dr Broughton Knox on Worship –
“The Reformers taught that faith is worship and is the basic way of acknowledging God’s essential character of self-giving. The application of this doctrine to the private devotional life is straightforward. Every day brings its opportunities of trusting God, and so acknowledging that He is trustworthy, that He is indeed a God of love. So all life becomes worship and there is no divorce between Sunday and the weekday.”
Read the whole article on the Church Society website (pdf file). DBK was Principal of Moore College for 26 years.
Biblical thinking about the crisis
This week’s vote by the congregation of St. John’s Shaughnessy in Vancouver has come after a long period of reflection on the Scriptures. This 2004 paper by St. John’s Rector, and Moore College graduate, David Short, gives some background –
“For Anglicans, in a denomination that now sanctions same sex unions, this now means changes in the shape of our relationships so they might help rather than hinder the mission of Christ. …”
See also David’s paper, “Are we Stronger than He?”, published in ACL News in 2005. 360kb PDF file.
For another report on yesterday’s vote, see Anglican Journal, published by the Anglican Church of Canada.
Commissary of the Diocese of New Westminster, Dean Peter Elliott, thinks the move is “unnecessary”, however read the articles above.
Advice to Pastors: Preach the Word
John Piper’s sermon from the installation of a colleague is good advice –
My message to you is very simple and very precarious. It is 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the Word.”
I call it precarious, because there is a constant temptation to do other things in the place of this. There ARE other things to do in the ministry, as these letters to Timothy show. And we must do them to be found faithful. But none of them is treated as solemnly and forcefully as this one simple exhortation from the apostle: “Preach the Word.” …
Available as text and audio download from Desiring God.
The Pastor’s Understanding of His Own Role
Watch this challenging message for preachers, from Mark Dever at the 2006 Together for the Gospel Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
“Basing his message on 1 Corinthians, Mark Dever discusses the three marks of a faithful pastor. Such a pastor has a cross-centred message, a cross-centred life, and cross-centred followers.”
Video available from Ligonier Ministries. (Broadband recommended. Duration: 56 minutes.)
Other helpful audio and video archive material may be found here.
Helpful music on special
Many of our readers have been blessed through the work of Australian groups Emu Music, Garage Hymnal and others who produce gospel-focussed music.
In the US, Sovereign Grace Ministries produces similarly helpful music (some of which will be familiar to attendees of CMS NSW Summer School). Read more
Evangelical Religion – J C Ryle
Written 130 years ago, Bishop John Charles Ryle’s tract on “Evangelical Religion” is still essential reading. The first Bishop of Liverpool in the UK, Ryle fought valiantly for the authority of the Scriptures in the Church of England.
“Since many religious disputes have arisen solely because there has been a lack of accurate definition, I am beginning this paper by explaining exactly what I mean by ‘Evangelical Religion’.”
The precise challenges faced by Ryle have changed, yet the need to ground the Christian life in the Bible remains. You can read his tract here.
Helpful Sermons
‘Faith by Hearing’ is a very useful index of online audio content from solid expository preachers. There is a great treasure of material compiled by Todd Shaffer in Montreal.
Currently featuring links to talks by Don Carson and many others.
See Faith by Hearing.
J I Packer – A History of the English Puritans
Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson Mississippi is placing online a great deal of free sermon and lecture audio through iTunes U. Recently added are their recordings of J. I. Packer’s 1988 lectures on the English Puritans.
What did the much-maligned Puritans believe and what can we learn from them about ministry? These lectures provide a valuable insight into the Puritans and are well worth hearing.
To access the material, go to the RTS website (it has a link to download iTunes if you need it) and then select the ‘Click to Launch iTunes’ button. Once there, click on ‘Courses in Church History’. On the next screen, go to ‘History and Theology of the Puritans’ – and you will be able to download all 16 lectures and the syllabus.
Your Kingdom Come
SydneyAnglicans.net has made available, courtesy of the Church Missionary Society, the talk given by Archbishop Peter Jensen at the CMS Summer School at Katoomba on January 6th.
Peter spoke on 1 Corinthians 1:18-25.
Listen and pass on to your Christian friends.
Hugh Latimer – Apostolic Preacher
The Church Society has made available a helpful piece on Hugh Latimer, bishop and martyr of the English Reformation. Written by David Streater and originally published in Crossway in 1996, the nine page article can be downloaded as a PDF file.
Take the opportunity, this quiet time of year, to learn of and to thank the Lord for Bishop Hugh Latimer.
What we believe
The message at the heart of Christianity is really quite simple…